Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that requires daily management to prevent large fluctuations in blood glucose levels and Diabetes disease management as well as biomedical sensor development is prime targets of the NIDDK and NIBIB at NIH. Maintenance of normal glucose levels requires daily monitoring which is currently performed primarily by using a commercially available invasive (finger or forearm stick method) blood glucose reading device. The design and development of a new noninvasive glucose sensor would provide a means for measurement of blood glucose without requiring the pain and embarrassment of using a finger prick device, thereby allowing for increased frequency of measurement, tighter control, and fewer secondary complications from diabetes mellitus, such as heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, gangrene, and blindness. Thus a noninvasive device such as the one proposed here would serve to facilitate better patient compliance for monitoring blood glucose. The ultimate goal of this research is to design and evaluate a noninvasive optical polarimetry technique for measuring glucose concentration in the anterior chamber of the eye as a quantifiable measure of blood glucose. The primary result of the research will be the development of an inexpensive, noninvasive, glucose sensing prototype particularly suited for self-monitoring to aid in the control of the disease diabetes mellitus. The device may also have utility in a doctor's office or in a trauma care unit. To date, this team has obtained extensive in vitro results showing the sensitivity, specificity, and overall feasibility of the approach. The team also has obtained limited in vivo results showing promise for the technique. However, there are key areas that need to be investigated for the realization of an in vivo clinical device. There are two specific aims proposed in this research: 1) to design, build, and test a system to reduce corneal birefringence artifacts due to eye motion and elucidate glucose concentration in the presence of other optically active molecules that vary in concentration. 2) To develop a means of coupling light in and out of the eye and measure the in vivo equilibration time delay between blood and aqueous humor glucose levels. The PI and his lab are uniquely suited to carry out this research, have expertise and over 15 years experience in optical biosensing and biomedical engineering for the design and development of this optical glucose monitor. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]